Policymakers can be relationship-builders between people who are passionate about ideas and places where those ideas are needed, says Ticora Jones, Division Chief, Higher Education Solutions Network, USAID Global Development Lab.
An excerpt from her interview via audio speaking at the UN’s Commission on Science and Technology for Development in Geneva, Switzerland, this week January 23-25.
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I run a programme that is focused on building bridges between universities around the world and their partners, such as NGOs, communities, impact-investing organizations and other universities, with a focus on science, technology and innovation.
We are trying to get people to think about multidisciplinary ways to approach international development. We know that there’s a lot of wonderful work that goes on in food security and public health, for example, but we also know that there are people in engineering and business that have been doing work in international development. We wanted to find ways of bringing all of those entities to the table and focus them on understanding the needs of communities and how science, research, innovation, invention and entrepreneurship could work in partnership with them.
It is not enough just to frame the problem, put a call out and get a bunch of solutions in, if you don’t know where they can go and who can implement them. Being that bridge between people who are passionate about ideas and a place where those ideas can be implemented is another role that the policy community can play.
Be Inspired Some More -> UNCTAD
